Things are moving rather quickly in the General ward these days. The majority of the patients I spend time with this outreach are hernia repairs and lipoma (benign tumor consisting of fat tissue) removals. The patients are usually able to be discharge the day after surgery, so I've had a little trouble getting to really know them. But there is one little boy that I wanted to share his story. Thierno is twelve years old and has had what we believe to be glaucoma for the majority of his life (as long as his father remembers). His left eye was already blinded by the disease and years of scarring, his right eye was swollen to the point that it was bulging from his lids, red and quite painful. Thierno is quite the tough little guy though, he was so happy and loved to hear me sing "If all the rain drops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be, standing outside with my mouth open wide ...". He is such a beautiful child with a bright smile and lovely long eyelashes. There was quite some debate about what to do, Thierno was still able to see small amounts of light from his right eye, but there were times when he just wanted to lie in his bed and cry from pain. Thankfully we have an amazing chaplaincy team that was able to speak to his father and make the best decision for Thierno. A few days ago he underwent an operation to remove his right eye. All of the nurses, including myself, were quite worried about how he would react when he awoke to complete darkness for the first time. I wish I could tell you that everything was wonderful post-operatively but I'm going to be honest. Though he knew what would happen with the surgery he was very scared coming out of surgery, but is father is amazing with him. He is slowly but surely cheering up. We found a small Fisher Price keyboard that he quite enjoys making music on. I'm not so sure the other patients agree, but I am just so happy to see him grin just a little. Once he is discharged we hope that he will be able to attend a blind primary school here in Conakry, but his father is a little apprehensive considering the school is one hour from his home. Please pray that his father and the rest of his family are able to make the very best decision for Thierno. Also pray that he will be accepted by his peers now, so that he will have friends.

Real Life Miracles

Every field service there are always a few patients that medically should not have survived. They were so sick that there was no hope. But there was ... God can do mighty things. Let me introduce you to Saran, she is one of the lovely little ladies I met on the VVF ward. Like many of the other ladies she came to the ship seeking a repair of her fistula. Saran's surgery went well but post-operatively she just got sicker and sicker. One day she was fine and the next she was sitting straight up in bed, unable to catch her breath. A chest x-ray showed that one of her lungs was almost completely filled with fluid. From there things just got worse. The short of it was she went into kidney failure, it was looking very grim. We placed her in the ICU and started trying to contact family. It saddened me greatly but I tried to prepare myself that she probably wouldn't make it. There is no way to do dialysis in West Africa like you would for kidney failure patients in America. She ended up having another surgery to repair an operative complication and afterward she started perking up. It was literally overnight. One day she was in ICU and the next she was sitting in the ward smiling and happy. There is only one way to explain this ... there were alot of prayers going up for Saran. Alot of people were not ready to give up on her. God worked a real life miracle in her life. Tomorrow Saran goes home, although I will miss her smiling face and the hugs I receive everytime I see her, I know that she is blessed. For she can do all things through God who has strengthened her!

Meet a little lady

One of my little ladies and I

Not what I expected

Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to update you all. In this update I feel like I need to be completely real and honest with you. This past week and a half has been kind of tough. I really felt like I would come back and all would be back exactly where I left it off. But let's be honest, how could it be? Almost all of the people I grew close to my last time aboard are not here anymore. Also, for the first week here I was in a totally different environment working on a different ward with a different category of surgical patients. But in the week and a half I have been here I have made new friends and have finally began to fall in love with the patients. Let me tell you about them ...
This time around I was placed in the VVF ward. VVF stands for vesicovaginal fistula. As many of you know I have 5 years of Emergency nursing experience and absolutely no gynecological experience. So without saying you can imagine I was very lost as to how to care for these patients. Let me give you a little history here. The majority of these ladies are about five foot tall, which makes me a giant among them at five foot ten myself. Anyway, they found themselves pregnant somewhere between 13-17 years of age. As you can imagine their bodies were not equipped for childbirth. They had many difficulties and were unable to deliver the baby the old fashioned way, causing them to be in labor for days. Because of this and the pressure that it caused there was tissue death and a fistula (hole) was formed causing them to continuously leak urine or feces. Their husbands, the majority of the time, leave them and they are social outcasts because they are always "wet".
Though we have an amazing urologist (bladder, kidney and urinary system doctor) on aboard in Dr Steve, we aren't able to repair all of the damage. Sadly we have had to send some of these "little ladies" home. So overall, there isn't the same happiness and joy in the ward as I would have expected. But there are hugs, and dancing and smiles even when they don't go the way they expected. To walk into the ward now and have them smile and give you a hug is beyond words.
As of yesterday I am now in the general surgery ward, where in the coming weeks I will be trained as a charge nurse. Please pray for me! I have never been a charge nurse and I am a little nervous. I am really excited to work with the maxillofacial (face, neck and head surgery) patients again and cuddle with the babies! So as I am contemplating my future plans and preparing to work here for the next five months please just say a little prayer for me, I need guidance and courage to lead the new nurses that I will be training (we have about forty of them!). Merci boku!!
P.S. Photos to follow soon (hopefully)

I'm Home

I have arrived! After nearly 24 hours of travel I arrived on the Africa Mercy last night. Despite the fact that it has been over a year and nearly everyone here is unknown, it feels like home. Favorite thing so far, the hugs from old friends that I didn't think I would ever see again. I'm looking forward to meeting all the lovely patients later this week. I will keep you updated on all my amazing adventures and the touching stories of all I encounter. For everyone back home in Georgia, love you all and see you again when the air is warm and the sun is shining!!

Nathan

I don't know that I ever told you about Nathan. He was brought to us from the Congo as a last resort. You see Nathan had a huge cancerous growth from his neck. I'll spare you the gory details, but it was BAD. So bad that someone paid his way on an airplane to come see us at Mercy Ships, hoping that there was something we could do. We were able to give him fluids and try to tame the infection, but we weren't able to do much else. Sadly we had to send him back to the Congo.

I didn't have the privilege of being Nathan's nurse but the little contact I had with him will forever have an impact on me. As an Emergency Room nurse I have a lot of experience inserting IVs. So it was a slow day and Nathan needed a new IV, so they asked me if I would look. I didn't hold out very much luck, some very talented nurses had tried before me. So I walk into his room. Before me sat a young boy with a tumor as big as his head and tiny body and spindly arms from years of malnutrition. It broke my heart right then and there, but I pushed on and gathered my supplies. Right before I was going to start by placing the tourniquet on his arm, he looked me in the eyes and said "Can we please pray?". Oh course I said yes. After two unsuccessful attempts I told him I couldn't hurt him anymore. He was being so brave and huge tears were rolling down his face. He asked me to try one more time and please pray again. So Clementine, one of the patient advocates, prayed in his native language of French. I said my own little prayer over him, it went something like this ... please God, he is already hurting so much, let me get this IV so he doesn't have to hurt anymore and we can help him feel better ~Amen. Well guess what? I got an IV. I really couldn't believe it! This little boy who was hurting so much had more faith in his tiny body than I could ever imagine having. He looked at me and said "Thank you".

I just found out this morning that Nathan passed away a few weeks ago. I'm told that he was praying and singing praises as he went to sleep that night and his Grandmother found him the next morning peaceful. I know that Nathan had the best Christmas imaginable. He was finally able to meet his Papa God and has no more pain. Thank you Nathan for being my angel on Earth and teaching me more than I could ever imagine!

They hold a piece of my heart ...